Trai recommends licence amendment to facilitate Internet calls

Telecom regulator Trai today recommended amending the Unified Licence for inter-connection at the IP level in order to facilitate Internet-based calls.

KOLKATA: The telecom regulator has recommended suitable amendments in the Unified Licence to pave the way for interconnection to happen at the IP or 'internet protocol' level between licenced operators.

If accepted by the government, users on newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm's VoLTE-based 4G network will be able to call subscribers of other telcos who operate traditional 'circuit switch' (CS) mobile networks, such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India or Idea Cellular, and vice-versa.

Reliance Jio is tipped to commercially launch its 4G services in April. This interconnection was one area of concern for sector experts as under current rules, largely only Jio-to-Jio calls would have been possible, which could also have limited the telco's hand in offering local as well as international roaming services.

Since "voice traffic is being carried over IP and traditional CS networks are gradually being phased out, there exists a need to facilitate interconnection at the IP level," which is why, "the Authority recommends the amendment to Clause 27.3 (Annexure) in the Unified Licence" for this to happen, said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in its recommendations on 'Interconnection over IP Interface' on Thursday.

The sector regulator has suggested that Clause 27.3 be reworded to broaden the scope of interconnection.

"Interconnection between networks of different licencees for carrying CS traffic shall be as per national standards, and for (also) carrying IP-based traffic as per Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) standards," says the amended Clause 27.3 of the unified licence proposed by Trai. The telecom regulator has recommended the tweaking of the Clause 27.3 in the absence of "an explicit clause relating to interconnection at the IP level in existing licences".

It has also suggested that similar "amendments to this effect may also be incorporated in relevant clauses" in other licence agreements. The regulator, however, has retained a key portion of the existing Clause 27.3 that says a "licencee shall install a media gateway switch (read: a piece of hardware) for inter-networking between CS and IP-based networks".

"If the telecom department accepts Trai's proposals, Reliance Jio will be able to both terminate and receive calls from any other mobile carrier operating a CS network by merely installing a media gateway switch" said B K Syngal, exchairman of erstwhile VSNL (now, Tata Communications), who is now Senior Principal at Dua Consulting. Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio, which recently started beta-testing its mobile broadband network by issuing connections to employees and friends, is looking at primarily at a VoLTE-based 4G rollout.

In a VoLTE or `Voice over LTE' scenario, voice calls, typically, will be provisioned over a 4G LTE data network, instead of the circuit-switched 2G or 3G networks which are commonly used. The VoLTE technology, typically, allows voice to become just another app that rides on an LTE data network.

Long-term evolution, or LTE, is the technology standard for delivering high-speed broadband services, popularly known as 4G. European brokerage Credit Suisse had recently said Jio's 4G voice coverage using VoLTE technology is at par with that of incumbents, which could pose a strong threat to rivals such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.